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It seems to be the time of year at the moment for good news regarding little newcomers on their way. Before I left Plateau one of my colleagues there left to go on maternity leave. I recently also received the good news that another friend of mine, Michelle from my last place of work in the UK, is expecting her second baby in December. A huge CONGRATULATIONS to Michelle and Jim

It has started me thinking about the whole “starting a family” thing; a very scary thought as I am approaching thirty with great speed. It’s a catch twenty two as far as I’m concerned; I don’t really want to be having children too late in life (ie. preferably not over the age of thirty five) but at the same time I would like to have settled down, at least found a career path to head down (I’m currently still wandering through life aimlessly not knowing what I want to do) and feel like I am mature enough to cope with the responsibility of bringing new life into the world. Hmm, I should really just be grateful for the fact that I am actually in a committed relationship, therefore making motherhood an option. Mat is certainly keen to be father, I am probably just over thinking things as usual.

Once you do decide to start a family I guess it depends how you go about things as to how many pregnancy tests you might require. For some people, a new life developing may come as a pleasant surprise, where as for others, they may plan everything form day one. Part of the reason I would like children before I am thirty five is so that hopefully it will be easier.

If however, you don’t want to plan on leaving things to fate then this website offers some good deals on kits of pregnancy and ovulation tests. I’d never heard of ovulation tests before but apparently they are used to determine when you are going to ovulate, therefore be most fertile and thus when the best times for “trying” are. This could be especially useful if you want to conceive at a particular time of year, have a spring or autumn baby etc, etc.

The products do not claim to be any better or worse than the leading brands on the market but are certainly very much cheaper meaning you don’t have to spend a fortune on what could otherwise be a pretty expensive operation. I like the idea of being more in control, but then that probably says a lot about me!

Mat and I were planning to fly back home to the UK towards the end of July and spend a few weeks catching up with friends and family. We got all excited and went into the Flight Centre a couple of weeks ago, only to find out that one return ticket to London was going to cost at least Au$2500. This was way more than we were expecting considering I got a return ticket from London to Sydney for a mere 700 GBP.

We were told that as well as being high season, the main reason for the inflated price was the fact that due to the Beijing Olympics starting in August, every man and their dog was heading out that way. This means that all flights passing through Asia have sky rocketed in price. Not good news for us, especially as it would have been a great opportunity to start making some wedding plans for the following August and not to mention the fact that we were really looking forward to seeing everyone again.

Hey ho, on the bright side we won’t have to scrimp and save every last spare dollar for the next few months and it might encourage others to come out here and visit us instead. Mat’s dad and his partner are already planning on a holiday to coincide with next years’ Mardi Gras. I think they are planning on spending a week with us in the Sydney area, a week up the Central Coast and then a week with Mat’s sister Libby in Brisbane/The Gold Coast.

I’m not sure what the living arrangements are going to be for visitors staying with us yet. We only have a one-bedroomed flat with an on-suite bathroom so this could make things a little awkward. There is a self-contained flat beneath ours belonging to the owners of the adjoining house that we are hoping they may allow us to use for such an occasion. However, if this is not agreeable then we will need to source some cheap accommodation nearby.

There are various websites I have looked at which have some reasonably priced flats etc. However, for hotels in Sydney or other cities it is probably best to look at www.hotelscombined.com. Compared to other sites like Expedia etc, they seem to best on prices. If Mat’s dad is going to celebrate Mardi Gras in style then he will probably want to spend at least one night in Sydney.

I am hoping that my dad will come out to visit us sometime, although he says it probably won’t be until the end of next year as he has already planned this year’s holiday. I’m not holding out much hope for my mum visiting as for various reasons she really doesn’t seem keen on the idea. It’s strange but Tom and Chris, our pommie student friends, are out here for less than a year as part of their college course and both their parents have visited, some of their friends and Chris’ sister came out on her own to visit also, not that I’m complaining The most important person for me is my brother; if he comes to visit, which he said he was thinking about yesterday when we were chatting on the phone, I will be more than happy – so here’s hoping